The first Church of the Holy Apostles,…

The first Church of the Holy Apostles, also known as the Imperial Polyándreion (imperial cemetery), an Eastern Orthodox church in Constantinople, dates to the fourth century, though subsequent emperors have added to and improved on the space.

It is second in size and importance only to the Hagia Sophia among the great churches of the capital.

When Constantinople fell to the Ottomans in 1453, the Holy Apostles had briefly become the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church.

Three years later the edifice, which was in a dilapidated state, had been abandoned by the Patriarch, and in 1461 it is demolished by the Ottomans to make way for the Fatih Mosque.